A ShotSpotter representative told city officials that two certified climbers are needed to perform equipment repairs atop the transmission tower, due to safety and regulatory requirements.

One California-based and one Saginaw-area "climber" will complete the repairs, ShotSpotter reps told city officials.

"The problem with the system is not
broken wires or that the system was shot; there are three servers
that transmit just like any wireless computer. Two of those servers
have become inoperable," Ludos wrote in a memo issued to Manager Darnell Earley and City Council Jan.

One of the three base stations that collect data first malfunctioned about June.

Technicians restored service, and the system operated intermittently.

By
September, two of the three base stations no longer worked, and
technicians could not remotely restore service, "but it's never been a
total shutdown," Ludos said.

Ludos said a maintenance contract
with the Mountain View, Calif.-based company would have cost $63,000
since the city installed the first portion of the system in 2009.

Rather
than pay for the maintenance contract, Ludos said he negotiated a
one-time fee for the repair, the bulk of which he said is to pay for the
travel, lodging and other expenses for technicians.

The system had a one-year warranty, and "everything was working fine until the warranties ran out," said Ludos.

ShotSpotter did make one warranty-covered repair remotely at no expense to Saginaw prior to the recent issues, Ludos said.

The city spent about $200,000 in Department of Justice grant funds for each of the two installation phases and planned to spend $300,000 more, also from the Department of Justice, to link the system to digital cameras that would further enhance the system by capturing instant video footage of the locations where gunshots are detected.

Police plan to have video linkage by March 7.

Saginaw public safety officials have not disclosed the locations of the two ShotSpotter devices, saying that revealing the locations could diminish the crime-fighting effectiveness.

The system transfers gunshot-related data within a square-mile area on both the east and west side of the Saginaw River.